Intel Teams Up with 50 Cent for Biometric Headphones

CEO 50 Cent and partial owner Carmelo Anthony were out in New York City tonight to announce SMS Audio’s brand new sports headphone line: BioSport. Sure these new headphones are water and sweat resistant, plus they’re endorsed by 7-time NBA allstar and 2-time Olympic gold medalist Carmelo Anthony, but that’s not why they teamed up with Intel. BioSport is one of the first sets of headphones to incorporate biometrics. It detects your heart rate and more accurately estimates your energy spent.

The BioSports are next-level for fitness headphones. Intel pitched in and accomplished an impressive feat. They built a set of headphones that doesn’t require a battery to read your heart rate. The built-in biometric monitor is powered completely by your music source’s headphone jack. This means it’s not wireless, and it doesn’t require charging. It’s intended to be an effortless experience.

From what we can tell, BioSports look like regular headphones. There’s a built-in optical sensor, and no special setup required. They continuously monitor heart rate and remove noise caused by body movement. One of our favorite features we’ve heard of so far is that it doesn’t come with its own underwhelming app! It’s fully compatible with RunKeeper, one of the best free exercise apps on the market.

Details are sparse on BioSport release and pricing. We heard they may be out as soon as Q4 2014, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted. As far as we can tell, BioSports only consist of in-ear headphones with a flat tangle-resistant cord, inline ControlTalk + microphone, and silicone ear hooks, but it’s very possible it gets expanded to a grander lineup.